Real-Time String Dynamics in 3+1D Lattice Quantum Electrodynamics
Abstract
Understanding real-time string dynamics in three spatial dimensions is essential for connecting quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories (LGTs) to the physical dimensionality of QED and QCD, where transverse fluctuations and competing local processes proliferate. We present the first real-time simulations of string breaking in 3+1D lattice quantum electrodynamics. Using tree tensor networks, we simulate the quench dynamics of electric flux strings in a 3 + 1D U(1) LGT with dynamical matter. At strong coupling, the string breaks resonantly at a sharp resonance condition of mass and gauge couplings, converting electric energy into matter--antimatter pairs that screen the static charges. Off resonance, we classify all competing channels---pair production, string deformations and extensions, and flux loops---whose multiplicity, extensive for pair production and flux loops, depletes the string sector even far from resonance. A channel-resolved perturbation theory quantitatively reproduces these dynamics and their Fourier spectrum. Our results establish diagnostics and benchmarks for upcoming quantum simulators of higher-dimensional LGTs.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{zwolfer2026realtime,
title = {{Real-Time String Dynamics in $3+1$D Lattice Quantum Electrodynamics}},
author = {Helen Zwölfer and Giovanni Cataldi and Umberto Borla and Jad C. Halimeh},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04114},
eprint = {2609.04114},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04114},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Real-Time String Dynamics in 3+1D Lattice Quantum Electrodynamics
AU - Helen Zwölfer
AU - Giovanni Cataldi
AU - Umberto Borla
AU - Jad C. Halimeh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04114
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04114
AB - Understanding real-time string dynamics in three spatial dimensions is essential for connecting quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories (LGTs) to the physical dimensionality of QED and QCD, where transverse fluctuations and competing local processes proliferate. We present the first real-time simulations of string breaking in 3+1D lattice quantum electrodynamics. Using tree tensor networks, we simulate the quench dynamics of electric flux strings in a 3 + 1D U(1) LGT with dynamical matter. At strong coupling, the string breaks resonantly at a sharp resonance condition of mass and gauge couplings, converting electric energy into matter--antimatter pairs that screen the static charges. Off resonance, we classify all competing channels---pair production, string deformations and extensions, and flux loops---whose multiplicity, extensive for pair production and flux loops, depletes the string sector even far from resonance. A channel-resolved perturbation theory quantitatively reproduces these dynamics and their Fourier spectrum. Our results establish diagnostics and benchmarks for upcoming quantum simulators of higher-dimensional LGTs.
ER -